In the course of the “Colloquium on french Philosophy”, Mehdi Parsa will give a talk entitled “Simulacrum and Sublime: Deleuze’s Reversed Platonic Realism to his Reversed Kantian Naturalism”.

“In this paper, I examine the relation between truth and dissimulation regarding two seminal texts by Deleuze – “Plato and the Simulacrum” and “The Idea of Genesis in Kant’s Esthetics” – that each in a way considers the generative role of art for philosophy and its truth. In both texts, Deleuze applies a reversal on great figures in the history of philosophy, Plato and Kant, by focusing on the elements inside their own work: the simulacrum and the sublime. As will be seen, the reversal of Plato and Kant as two main figures of the history of philosophy marks the reversal of philosophy itself from within it and uncovers the artistic act as what is hidden at the heart of philosophy and as its genetic element. In this vein, we can find a kind of realism through the reversal of Plato who is famously an idealist, and a kind of naturalism through the reversal of Kant who is famously phenomenologist. And this realism and naturalism in philosophy join together in the genetic power of art.”

The topic of the Colloquium this year is: “Das Scheinbare und das Unscheinbare”.

The colloquium begins at 6:15 p.m.

For questions please contact Sergio Genovesi: i.sergiogenovesi@gmail.com